Computer based expert systems perform complex tasks such as aiding doctors and diagnosing illnesses, guiding engineers in controlling complex production processes and diagnosing and correcting computer failures. Typically, these expert systems employ knowledge bases that consist of a collection of data files loaded into a local memory device and made available to an expert system diagnostic computer program. The expert system diagnostic computer program employs the information stored in the data files to guide the user to a solution for the problem at hand. The knowledge base usually consists of a set of data files that contains information about the problem that the expert systems are working to solve. The diagnostic program will access the knowledge base to determine questions that are presented to a system user to collect information for diagnosing a particular problem.
To operate properly, the expert systems require knowledge bases that are complex and complete. The development of such expert system knowledge bases is a highly complex task. Each database contains information about the symptoms and characteristics that occur with a particular fault to provide for a proper diagnostic analysis of a particular problem. Moreover, for those expert systems that further attempt to correct the diagnosed faults, the knowledge bases contain information that instructs a user in correcting the diagnosed fault. Accordingly, these knowledge bases can be large and complex and contain different types of information; some types directed to the symptoms or fault, other types directed to solutions for a fault.
A problem that arises for many types of expert systems is that they depend upon a knowledge base that has current and accurate information. However, because it is a difficult task to update and maintain such complex databases of different types of information, the integration of new diagnostic information and solutions can be a complex and labor intensive procedure.
Accordingly, it is an object of the invention to provide systems and methods for performing expert system diagnostic analysis and resolution that employ a knowledge base that is segmented into specific file sets and domains that are easier to use, manage, update, and maintain.